AEW Fyter Fest 2020 Takeaways: ‘Hangman’ Page the Next Bret Hart

4.   WWE REALLY S*** The Bed Losing Luke Harper/Brodie Lee

Mister Brodie Lee has successfully developed into a carefully layered, cool main event heel.  We all know the drill when it comes to his WWE career as Luke Harper (and then just, “Harper” during the Bludgeon Brothers [real quick, does anyone else always wanna call ‘em the “Bash Brothers” from Mighty Ducks, because I do…every single time…which is not a good sign when speaking of their relevance in the annals of WWE history – but I digress] days: 90% Bray Wyatt henchman, 5% Bludgeon Brother, 3% Intercontinental Championship Contender/Champion, 1% Potential #1 Contender to WWE Championship, 1% Participant in a Dark Match with EC3 That Vince McMahon Did Not Like, Effectively Ending His Career with WWE.

Since coming over to AEW, Brodie Lee surprisingly established himself as a cult of personality type, much like Mussolini and Kennedy, like Joseph Stalin and Gandhi, (a new addition to drive the point home) like CM Punk (I think that’s what he meant by walking out to that song) and Vince McMahon, rather than a man of dark origins and overtly sinister intentions, like when The Undertaker ran The Ministry of Darkness (which is what I expected).

He did lose a World Championship match WAY too soon in his tenure in AEW, but he put up a valiant effort and the finish left him looking strong but human.

That’s fine – because that’s who his character turned out to be.  Vinnie Mac has been choked out plenty of times, but he’s still Vince McMahon when he wakes up, right? I can hear Living Colour’s remix now: “Like Vincent Kennedy, and Brodie Lee, I’m a cult of personality” –  something like that.  He did lose the big one, but he’s gracefully moved on to an angle that sees himself and his Dark Order henchmen recruiting a pretty big name in Colt Cabana.

Lee’s “seduction” of Cabana has been masterful.  Lee’s performance when he found out that Cabana could go was outstanding.  He took ownership of Cabana’s choice at that moment

Then, after a multitude of small gestures from Lee to Cabana throughout the match, Lee decimated “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels with his roundhouse clothesline and left him laying, just about unconscious, in the center of the ring…for Cabana to pin.

Lee gifted Cabana a win over Daniels and SCU, something that he’s found hard to come by since he signed on with AEW.  In fact, save a few nothing wins against nobody wrestlers on AEW Dark, Colt Cabana hasn’t won in AEW without the help of Mr. Brodie Lee.

Defeating Janela and Sonny Kiss was one thing – a solid team, despite Janela’s lack of a single athletic bone in his body, but that’s a story for another time – but to get the PIN on Christopher Daniels and beat SCU, technically the first AEW Tag Team Champions (SCU was represented by Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky during their title run) – that’s something extremely different altogether.

This angle with Cabana is awesome.  When Brodie gets on the mic or performs in backstage clips, he’s awesome.  When Mr. Brodie Lee gets into the ring, he’s main-event-level-big-man-awesome.  Now, with the cult of personality character, his persona will have legs for as long as Lee stays healthy, and that’s downright – you guessed it: awesome (Mizanin, 2020).